The Residential Tenancy Act clause had allowed landlords to apply to raise rents beyond the maximum annual allowable increase if they could prove that similar units in the neighbourhood had higher rents.

The cap on rent increases is four per cent for 2018.

The clause allowed landlords to raise rents above the max annual allowable rent increase (will be 4% in 2018) if they could argue that rents in similar units in the area charged more #bcpolihttps://t.co/nZ2WuB4ajl

Chandra Herbert said that landlords would at times apply for rent increase of 70 per cent or more, as well as using the threat of rent increases to convince renters to agree to lower, although still significant increases.

Andrew Sakamoto, executive director of the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre, said that the geographic area clause had let landlords push rents even higher amidst what has been called a rental crisis in B.C.

Metro Vancouver rental vacancies sit at less than one per cent across all of its communities.

“We can’t allow landlords to use geographic rent increases to bring more units in line with the already inflated market that vacated clauses helped create,” Sakamoto said.